My wife and I originally wanted a Model 3 AWD. But once Tesla announced how much longer the wait would be for the AWD version we decided to get a Model 3 Long Range first, keep the mileage low, get a Model 3 AWD as soon as they were available and then sell the Model 3 LR. This ended up working out surprisingly well and I thought I would share the details in case anyone else is in the same boat.
First off, we took delivery of a red Model 3 LR with autopilot in January. The sticker price was $56,000. We tried to keep the mileage as low as possible, but it was so fun to drive that we ended up with almost 8,000 miles by September 4th when we were told we could schedule delivery of our Model 3 AWD. I requested a trade-in offer from Tesla, but when I didn't get a prompt response I went ahead and entered all the stats on our Model 3 LR on Vroom.com. In addition to the 8,000 miles, the car also picked up some curb rash on three of the four wheels (my wife parks in tight spots in San Francisco) as well a minor door ding (our 3-year hasn't learned to be cautious when opening car doors yet). Vroom offered us $44,000 and the offer was good for 10 days and up to 250 additional miles. That seemed pretty reasonable since it was only $4,500 below the sticker price when the tax credit was figured in. That works out to 56 cents a mile which seems like pretty reasonable depreciation. Tesla finally got back to us and said $44,000 was better than what they were likely to offer so we went with Vroom.
We picked up the new Model 3 AWD three days after we accepted the offer to sell the old car to Vroom. The whole transaction to sell the old car was done almost completely on-line, but it did involve mailing in the title so we had the slightly odd situation of having two idential looking Model 3's (along with our Model S) in front of our house for a few days.
Once Vroom got the title, they scheduled a pickup. They actually send a giant car-carrier truck to your house to pick the car up- you don't have to take the car anywhere. Although we live on a cul-de-sac so the truck driver requested that we meet him closer to the main road so he wouldn't have trouble turning his truck around. This was on Friday and Vroom wired the money to us on Monday. I don't think things could have been any more convenient.
I was curious where they would take the car so I checked in every so often on the app. To my surprise, the app said the car was still where we loaded it on the truck even though the truck was long gone. A few days later, the app finally showed the location as 12002 Southwest Fwy, Meadows Place, Texas. The car now has one more mile on the odometer than when we handed it over so it seems like the car only updates its location when it's moving under its own power.
To finish the story, the car popped up on the Vroom website yesterday: Used 2017 Tesla Model 3 For Sale ($53,880) | Vroom
I was surprised they didn't change the name we gave the car (Sonja- because it's red). I was also a little surprised how much they are asking for the car: $53,880. They did fix the scraped rims and the door ding and vacuumed the interior. But that doesn't seem too competitive with a brand new car when the tax credit is figured in. I'm curious to see if they are able to get that price.
First off, we took delivery of a red Model 3 LR with autopilot in January. The sticker price was $56,000. We tried to keep the mileage as low as possible, but it was so fun to drive that we ended up with almost 8,000 miles by September 4th when we were told we could schedule delivery of our Model 3 AWD. I requested a trade-in offer from Tesla, but when I didn't get a prompt response I went ahead and entered all the stats on our Model 3 LR on Vroom.com. In addition to the 8,000 miles, the car also picked up some curb rash on three of the four wheels (my wife parks in tight spots in San Francisco) as well a minor door ding (our 3-year hasn't learned to be cautious when opening car doors yet). Vroom offered us $44,000 and the offer was good for 10 days and up to 250 additional miles. That seemed pretty reasonable since it was only $4,500 below the sticker price when the tax credit was figured in. That works out to 56 cents a mile which seems like pretty reasonable depreciation. Tesla finally got back to us and said $44,000 was better than what they were likely to offer so we went with Vroom.
We picked up the new Model 3 AWD three days after we accepted the offer to sell the old car to Vroom. The whole transaction to sell the old car was done almost completely on-line, but it did involve mailing in the title so we had the slightly odd situation of having two idential looking Model 3's (along with our Model S) in front of our house for a few days.
Once Vroom got the title, they scheduled a pickup. They actually send a giant car-carrier truck to your house to pick the car up- you don't have to take the car anywhere. Although we live on a cul-de-sac so the truck driver requested that we meet him closer to the main road so he wouldn't have trouble turning his truck around. This was on Friday and Vroom wired the money to us on Monday. I don't think things could have been any more convenient.
I was curious where they would take the car so I checked in every so often on the app. To my surprise, the app said the car was still where we loaded it on the truck even though the truck was long gone. A few days later, the app finally showed the location as 12002 Southwest Fwy, Meadows Place, Texas. The car now has one more mile on the odometer than when we handed it over so it seems like the car only updates its location when it's moving under its own power.
To finish the story, the car popped up on the Vroom website yesterday: Used 2017 Tesla Model 3 For Sale ($53,880) | Vroom
I was surprised they didn't change the name we gave the car (Sonja- because it's red). I was also a little surprised how much they are asking for the car: $53,880. They did fix the scraped rims and the door ding and vacuumed the interior. But that doesn't seem too competitive with a brand new car when the tax credit is figured in. I'm curious to see if they are able to get that price.
